36. Companion Planting in Ischian Cacti Gardens and Rediscovering Mulberries
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Dear Lovely Readers,
Last weekend I decided to stay cool during the heatwave away from my ac-free apartment and closer to water. Since this heat seems like it is here to stay for the next while and I will be traveling quite a bit, I will be putting out sporadic newsletters for the next two months. Please forgive me, things will return to normal when I am back in Amsterdam in October <3
Thank you so much for being here and I hope you are having a wonderful summer (if you are also in summer) away from any wildfire danger <3
Love,
Jazz
Companion Planting in Ischia’s Giardini Ravino
Some of you might remember my earlier article about companion planting, which is actually going quite well. As predicted the fennel bulbs faded away but the petunias are doing the trick and keeping pests away from the citrus babies. When I was taking a stroll through the impressive Giardini Ravino on Ischia, I noticed a specific type of partnership that was intertwined throughout the gardens and seemed to be purposely companion planting.
Giardini Ravino is a collection of cacti from all over the world that has grown into a spectacular botanical garden with a view of the Mediterranean. Throughout the gardens there are passionfruit vines snaking their way across cacti and whatever else they can grab onto. The gardens also pride themselves on companion planting and are aware of the benefits that stem from organizing your garden in such a way. They have a small potager in the back of the garden set up like this, to reap the benefits for their garden café. According to the receptionist there, the passionfruit most dominant in the garden were maracuya, but sometimes maracuya is just what passionfruit is called in latin languages. To give you an idea, maracuyas are technically yellow passionfruit, they are more acidic than their purple cousin and grow faster and more lovingly around everything within reach. However, these ones could be any orange/yellow passionfruit in the general realm of maracuya.
Trying to figure out the specific types of passionfruit led me down a rabbit hole of intense passionfruit research, eventual overwhelm, and regret I didn’t push past my lack of Italian and dying phone (with translator app) to insist on learning more and interviewing a gardener. Alas, I am stuck with analyzing leaves, which really did look like the bluecrown passionflower growing on my own balcony.
Cacti glochids provide the perfect support for passionfruit spirals and with some cacti in the Giardini gleaning tall enough to touch the sun, these fruits thrived.
The on-site café even serves the most incredible prickly pear, maracuya (and I think I heard papaya) cocktail. Best enjoyed with a caprese salad <3
These vines even grew along the palms scattered throughout the grounds. I’d like to think this palm felt like being fancy and growing a necklace.
Also randomly, a bluecrown passionflower fruiting vine in Haarlem last week. Just shows how hot it has been to get a tropical fruit to grow outside in The Netherlands. I picked a couple, but one was infested with ants (which are now permanently living in my pocket) and the other not yet ripe. A karmic Grimms’ moment. Google says these are not the tastiest passionfruit out there and taste more like a disappointing blackberry. My tentative taste test affirmed Google’s statement.
Rediscovering Mulberries
Mulberry season is fragile and mulberries are even more fragile. In Amsterdam it is pretty impossible to find fresh berries at the market. Even the dry versions in shops are stale. You have to be lucky to catch the brief fruiting period from hidden trees throughout the city. Such as the majestic one in Frankendael park (maybe there is even more than one but I only know of one for sure). Last year I foraged and enjoyed as many as I could carry (a few handfuls, I was not properly equipped) but you have to eat them almost immediately, unless you plan on preserving them somehow (frozen or confiture or syrup).
On Ischia I was lucky to be there when the fruit was starting. Unfortunately, most of the mulberry trees were on people’s properties, but I was able to sneak a few away to taste. I was traveling with a few others, two of which were Lebanese. They told me about a mulberry drink, Sharab El Toot, which they grew up with.
I grew up in a Lebanese-Canadian sphere in Ottawa, my dad is Lebanese and it is a huge community there. So I absolutely love connecting and learning more about Lebanon. When I hear stories like this, my heart aches in a weird ancestral way that I am sure sounds so lame as really I am just Canadian. But it is magical to hear about traditions and recipes, and to learn from others about things that my grandparents did not live long enough to tell us about.
We did not try to make it this trip since there were not enough ripe mulberries to forage - and also private property. But if you have one nearby and would like to try it out here is a simple recipe. By the time I returned from Ischia the heatwave had sped up the mulberry season and they had dissipated in Frankendael park, so I will have to save this recipe until I can get my hands on fresh mulberries or just mulberry syrup <3
Sharab El Toot
-As many mulberries as you can forage
-white or cane sugar (1:1 with the mulberry juice)
-ice
-fresh mint
-lemon juice
Blend and strain the mulberries so you have a juice.
Boil down with sugar until you reach a syrup consistency, be patient, go slow and stir often.
Mix 1 tablespoon syrup with 1.5 cups water and serve over ice with some fresh mint. You can add in some lemon juice to bring out some umami.
You can also fuck up fresh mulberries with crushed ice and pour over water, stir in some sugar, and toss in some mint for literally the easiest lazy way to make this drink, if you are the type that likes fruit pulp and slushies :) The stem of the mulberry tastes like citrus so using the whole fruit this way, you don’t really need the added dash of lemon juice.
Some things nourishing me this week
My dad is in town! Lulu is stoked, but also stoked about how she is going to steal the burger on the table.
The best bloody mary in town, the owner always gives Lulu some bacon to snack on when we go. If this continues we are going to have the fattest (but still cutest) pup on our hands.
Mirabelle season, only lasts a handful of weeks and bruises easily. Growing up my family spent summers traveling through Europe and visiting family all over. My other dad is from Hungary so we spent a significant amount of time there. As my dad and I snacked on these mirabelles here in Amsterdam we remembered how these used to grow beside a children’s park in Budapest. My sister and I used to play there all the time and would climb the tree to collect as many as we could, so I have really fond memories of these plums. I love this short and sweet season <3
Sunset lighting on the balcony
This cutie pie popping up in my garden
Know anyone else who loves mulberries or mirabelles?
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